Wednesday, March 04, 2009

James is Beth and Phillip's biological son, though he is named after Jim Lemay (Daisy's adoptive father), whom Beth was married to when James was born.

Beth initially tried to pass her baby off as Jim's. But then Lizzie became ill with leukemia, and doctors advised Beth to have her infant delivered prematurely so he could serve as a bone-marrow donor for Lizzie.

As there would be risks to the baby, Jim refused to have "his" son's life put in danger. That's when Phillip stepped up and announced that the unborn child was his. Beth's labor was induced, she delivered James and his bone marrow was immediately harvested to save Lizzie. Although Jim was able to forgive his wife, Harley ended up asking Phillip for a divorce. (For the record, a lot of trouble could have been avoided if Phillip had just agreed to let another compatible donor - Edmund - donate his bone marrow to Lizzie. But Phillip hated the Dark Prince, so instead he destroyed his marriage and broke Jim's heart. And Phillip thinks he is nothing like Alan....)

James Spaulding was born in 2000. On Wednesday, April 8, 2009, he returns to Springfield from Lincoln Prep (his father and Uncle Rick's boarding school alma mater) a very angry and alienated 18 year old. (Not unlike dear old dad, who set off for Lincoln Prep in 1981 as a shy, sickly 12 year old hugging one of his many mothers below, and returned a year later to finish up his Senior Year at Springfield High.)

The latest Spaulding scion will be played by actor Zack Conroy, who previously appeared as Ben Simmons on Gossip Girl and, in 2008, played Leo, the boy who drugged Liberty and faced The Wrath of Brad on As The World Turns.